The Washington Post wrote an article following US Secretary of State John Kerry urging leaders around the world to “step up even further” in their anti-Ebola efforts. In the article there was a graph (shown below) that shows financial contributions to the UN for Ebola by country. The goal is to raise $998 million and as of October 8th, 2014, financial contributions towards the UN Ebola response fell short by $306.2 million. The highest contributor was the US at $113.8 million and the lowest contributor was Italy at $2.2 million.
Money does play a very important role in successfully beating the virus because disinfectant, personal protective gear, medical supplies and such are vital. But we must not forget another vital piece of the puzzle, access to medical attention. In the US our physician per capita, meaning number of doctors for every 1000 people, is 2.45. In Liberia and Sierra Leone the Physician per capita is 0.014 and 0.022 respectively (WHO). These differences in physician per capita are what makes it so easy for this virus to spread. The numbers the WHO provides on physician per capita are averaged for the entire country. In more rural cities and towns that number is even lower therefore medical care is even harder to come by, making it the perfect setting for Ebola to spread faster than it can be treated. It is possible to survive Ebola if it is recognized and treated quickly but in places where this vast difference in access to medical attention exists the virus can and has quickly spread.
There is this mass hysteria that has consumed the media in the western world as Ebola has made its way into other countries. It is important for people to know what symptoms to look out for and to seek immediate attention if they find that they or a loved one is experiencing symptoms of Ebola. What is important to remember is that we are fortunate enough to seek immediate medical attention as soon as we need it whereas in other countries a person may have to wait a very long time or travel a great distance to seek care.
Like I mentioned earlier, Italy is said to have contributed only 2.2 million towards the UN’s Ebola response which is significantly lower than many other contributors on the list. However Italy has a very high physician per capita ratio of 4.09, much higher than the US ratio of 2.45. If Italy cannot contribute as much money as the UN or the US thinks it should, perhaps they should call on Italy to send volunteer health care workers. The western world has a surplus of health care workers, Greece 4.09, Bulgaria 3.8 and Monaco 7.17. If the world can really band together and make up for this inequality in medical care access, we can beat Ebola.
http://wapo.st/1schGHA
-Zenebech Mesfin
